Boston employee fired after violent altercation during traffic stop (videos)
A 25-year-old man who worked for the City of Boston was fired not long after being arrested in late July after an altercation during a traffic stop that ended with the man and a Massachusetts State Police trooper using a taser on one another, according to authorities.
Nasiru Ibrahim, 25, faces 10 criminal charges, including eight felonies, in connection with the incident on July 30. Ibrahim worked as a property manager for the city before being fired following his recent arrest.
That day, a trooper on patrol near Preble Circle in South Boston pulled over a car Ibrahim was driving after he noticed what is described in a police report as overly-tinted windows. The area is a "persistent hotspot for criminal activity," Trooper Matthew Hickey wrote.
The arrest
Hickey asked Ibrahim for his license and registration, and as Ibrahim retrieved it, the trooper noticed a backpack on the front passenger-side floorboard.
As he spoke to the trooper, Ibrahim told him he worked for the city of Boston — he was wearing both a beanie and a T-shirt with the city logo on it, as also seen in the trooper's body camera video . The trooper eventually noticed the "odor of raw marijuana emanating from the vehicle."
"At this point, I detected that Ibrahim's behavior became noticeably more unusual than that of a typical traffic stop. He was overly fidgety, his hands were trembling, he cracked a nervous smile, and his eyes were darting rapidly," Hickey wrote.
Ibrahim's behavior was reflective of "contemplating flight or engaging in criminal activity," the report reads.
Hickey tried to get Ibrahim to relax, but the 25-year-old became increasingly nervous as the interaction went on. Ibrahim began visibly trembling when the trooper asked when he was last pulled over, and he admitted to having been arrested in the past, though not recently, according to the report.
The younger man's nervous demeanor led the trooper to ask if there was anything in the backpack. Ibrahim said there wasn't and began to go through it. When the trooper asked to feel the bag himself, Ibrahim yanked it away from his window and put the car in drive, according to the report.
At that point, Hickey dove headfirst into the vehicle and pleaded with Ibrahim to stop.
"Stop! Stop, dude! You're going to make this worse!" Hickey said, according to the report.
As the pair wrestled over control of the car, Hickey managed to put it into park. But Ibrahim put the car back in drive, still attempting to get away. Hickey wrestled the car back into park.
Dashcam video from the trooper's vehicle of the incident shows that despite the struggle over the gear shifter, the car remains mostly still, until jerking forward and immediately slamming to a stop after about 30 seconds of struggle.
"You're going to [expletive] kill someone, dude! You're going to [expletive] kill somebody!" Hickey screamed at Ibrahim.
During the struggle, Ibrahim repeatedly indicated he would do what Hickey asked, but kept trying to flee, repeatedly putting the car into park. At that point, Hickey was "fully inside the vehicle" and fearing for his life and that of pedestrians in the area. Dashcam video shows the trooper's boots sticking out of the driver's side window.
Hickey eventually used his Taser on Ibrahim in an attempt to subdue him, but despite being shocked, Ibrahim managed to put the car back in drive. Hickey dropped the Taser, put the vehicle in park and managed to shut off the ignition. But as he did so, Ibrahim picked up the Taser and used it on the trooper, according to the report.
"I felt an intense electric current surge through my upper torso, causing excruciating pain," Hickey wrote.
Hickey punched Ibrahim in the face twice and fish-hooked his mouth to try and twist his head and get control of his body. After that, Ibrahim said, "OK, OK, I give up!"
As Hickey handcuffed Ibrahim, an off-duty Boston Police officer ran over to assist and helped the trooper handcuff him, the report read. The dashcam video shows the officer pull Ibrahim out of the passenger side door.
With Ibrahim in custody, Hickey retrieved the backpack he had thrown and searched it, finding nothing of note. But the trooper found a blue sweatshirt with the Boston city logo on it lying on the driver's seat where Ibrahim had been sitting. When Hickey picked up the sweatshirt, he felt a "dense, hard object" inside, which was consistent with a gun.
Hickey eventually identified the weapon as a Glock 23 Gen 4 semi-automatic pistol with a "Georgia Revenue Law Enforcement Special Agent" insignia. The pistol was equipped with a machine gun conversion device, which converts a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic one.
When Hickey removed the magazine, he found multiple rounds of ammunition inside.
What happened in court
Ibrahim was arraigned on the charges the next day, July 31. A plea of not guilty was entered for him and he was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
After the dangerousness hearing on Aug. 6, Judge Margaret Albertson ordered Ibrahim held without bail for 120 days. Albertson set bail for Ibrahim at $75,000.
Should he post bail, Ibrahim would be subject to round-the-clock home confinement and GPS monitoring, records show.
A probable cause hearing is set for Friday morning.
The fallout
Ibrahim's arrest comes amid what a pair of Boston city councilors called a "surge of troubling incidents involving City of Boston employees, including fights and other violent or criminal behavior."
Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy sought to convene an emergency hearing on the city's hiring practices.
Ibrahim had open cases for violent crime when he was hired, according to Flynn, who claimed at a City Council meeting the 25-year-old had a seven-page criminal record that included a conviction for armed assault to murder that led to a five-year prison sentence.
Mayor Michelle Wu has disputed that account.
"There was a screening process, and as I understand it, there's some clear discrepancies between what some are saying on that record in the media, and what it actually says, and the documents that I have seen," Wu said at an event last week, according to The Boston Herald .
Asked for audio of Wu speaking, the mayor's office would only confirm that Ibrahim had been fired.
The mayor said the city was aware Ibrahim had a criminal record when he was hired, but that her administration "believes in second chances."
More News
Read the original article on MassLive .
